Sorry for the long wait! I've been distracted by a lot of video games lately and my birthday was back in late November. I hope you all stayed with me on this. I know at least one of you is still in touch. I also changed the title of the chapter, which I would've changed in last chapter's preview, but I didn't have the document uploaded on the site anymore and my laptop is getting fixed. Please enjoy and I hope the wait was worth it.
*Boys' Dorm Room, Tokyo University Duel Academy*
It had been about a day since Spiral encountered the psychotic (yet charismatic) Raza and lost to him. The words Raza had mentioned to him were still buzzing around his head. 'Someone he knew' was throwing someone into the mirror… 'The twins would be next'… and a particular threat Raza made to him…
(Flashback)
"Now you," Raza turned his attention to Spiral. He walked over, garbed his shirt collar and lifted him up off the ground. "The time for games is over, kid. Don't say 'I don't treat this as a game' 'cause you do! I understand what is going through your head better than you do. You want come in, save everyone, catch the bad guy and be hero like in some stupid comic book...I respect that, but if you have that mind set lingering in the back of your mind, you will not win. Understand?"
(End Flashback)
*I still can't believe he defeated Yukimaru so easily…* Spiral thought. *I know Raza threatened me, but… why are those other words bothering me so much? I feel-*
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The twins were walking down the hallway towards Spiral's room.
"Remind me again why we're heading to the boys' room." Chan said to her sister.
"I wanna try to cheer him up!" Chun answered. "When he sees my adorable self, he's bound to smile!"
"I think you overestimate yourself."
"I think you underestimate me."
"If that was all we needed, we could have just found a puppy or a kitten at the animal shelter."
"Please! I'm much cuter than a puppy or a kitten… but I admit they come close."
The twins had arrived at the door to Spiral's room.
THUD!
"What's…" Chan reacted to the sound.
"AGH!"
It was sunset and Shroud, Momo, Asuka, Hikari and Aura were all having a study session in the student lounge to finish their homework. Their assignment was a Duel puzzle they had to figure out.
"So…" Asuka spoke up. "This card should be played first and then use its effect to select this card?"
"… I think so…" Hikari guessed. "What do you think, Shroud?"
"It seems likely, but did you check what's in the Deck?" Shroud asked.
"Oh, before I forget!" Aura spoke up. "Spiral's birthday is tomorrow."
"Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me!" Momo smiled.
"What should we get him?" Asuka asked.
"I don't think you should get him anything." Shroud said. "If you get Spiral something, he's going to be stressed out by the debt you all put him him."
"… You always have to make things that are fun sound bad, don't you?" Asuka glared at him.
Just then, Naoto barged in as if he was running and he was panting deeply.
"We've got a problem!" Naoto could barely yell while trying to catch his breath. "I was going to check up on Spiral until I saw that our room had been torn apart!"
"What? !" Shroud stood up.
Everyone else then stood up in shock.
"Did they take anything? !" Shroud seemed worried.
"No." Naoto answered.
"Thank goodness." Shroud sighed in relief. "They didn't take my comic books."
Everyone just looked at Shroud like he was only concerned with himself.
"It just looked like there was a struggle, but there wasn't any blood. In fact, I'm not even sure what happened." Naoto stated.
"Was there anyone there?" Aura asked.
"No one was there when I got there." Naoto said. "No sign of Spiral or the twins."
"Spiral's gone missing? !" Momo asked.
"Now that I think about it…" Naoto started to think. "You know how we kept saving people? What if the perpetrator knew that Spiral's bracelet was how we know when a victim enters that world? What if that person was watching us this whole time and had enough with his murders getting derailed? I mean, we stopped like 6 or 7 in a row. Even if they were stupid, they'd have noticed no one was dying by now."
"So they probably kidnapped Spiral so we won't be able to tell when a victim ends up in that world." Asuka summed up.
"There's still a bit more to this that we don't know about." Shroud pointed out.
"He's right." Naoto agreed with Shroud… for once. "We should ask if any of the other students saw anyone suspicious and where they went. They're probably keeping Spiral hidden somewhere where we can't find him. But where does that leave the twins?"
"Wait!" Hikari had a light bulb over her head. "If the twins were there… and the killer was… does that mean Chan and Chun are…"
"It's possible." Shroud said.
"Let's try to cover as much ground as possible!" Naoto commanded. "We should split into two teams: one to search the school grounds and another to search the world in the mirror! If the school team doesn't find anything, we'll enter the mirror world and catch up with the mirror team! Who's going into the other world?"
"I'll go in the mirror!" Aura volunteered.
"I second that motion." Hikari also volunteered.
"I think it would be best if Momo would be on the school team." Naoto suggested. "She's a ninja and can probably track the perp without being seen if she finds a clue."
"Then I guess I'll go into the mirror, too." Asuka volunteered.
"All right!" Naoto said. "Me, Shroud and Momo will search the school grounds while Aura, Hikari and Asuka will search in the mirror! When we finish our search, we'll enter the mirror and let you know if anything happened! Ready! Let's go!"
Naoto and Shroud had questioned students in nearby dorm rooms if they saw anyone suspicious enter or leave the area or if Spiral had been through the area. Momo was investigating the crime scene.
Aura, Hikari and Asuka had entered the world in the mirror using the mirror in the principal's office. They entered the elevator and saw that a new floor had been added. Aura pressed the button that said 'B8'. When the elevator doors opened, it revealed an auditorium with magic trick equipment on the stage. The spotlights were focusing primarily on that part of the stage. Aura looked down one of the aisles and saw the twins sitting in the seats in the front of the stage.
"I found them!" Aura ran to them.
When Aura got to the front seats, she saw that the twins were unconscious and restrained with Chinese tapestry.
"Asuka, help me tear this off!" Aura called out.
Asuka tried to tear it off, but even with her strength, the tapestry wouldn't even rip in the slightest.
"What the hell is this thing made of? !" Asuka became frustrated.
Both Chan and Chun started to wake up and were still half asleep, but when they saw Aura and Asuka, they're eyes widened and woke up.
"What happened? !" Chan exclaimed.
"Where are we? !" Chun then exclaimed. "Where's Spiral?"
"We could ask you the same thing." Asuka responded.
"When we knocked on the door to cheer him up, he-" Chan was about to explain when the curtain was pulled back.
The curtain unveiled two small kids wearing magician costumes. The kids lifted their heads at the same time and revealed their faces as those of Chan and Chun.
"Welcome one and all!" Chan(?) announced.
"To the Xu Twin's Spectacularly Magical Magic Show!" Chun(?) followed up.
"We know that two members of the audience will recognize this." Chan(?) pointed out.
"Right here is an ordinary dish." Chun(?) held up a silver dish pan, revealing it as empty before covering it up again. "Now I'm going to close it and…"
Chun(?) then opened the dish pan again and a dove flew out and perched itself on Hikari's finger.
"How cute." Hikari commented on the bird.
"We tried to pass our magic tricks off as true magic to the other kids, but we knew the whole time that we were actually just faking it." Chan(?) said. "Those 'magicians' are the only people that can't be arrested for fraud because it's supposed to be fun, but we think otherwise."
"We thought that it was complete deception of our peers and we were robbing them blind by saying our magic was real." Chun(?) continued. "And you know what… we liked it. We wanted to extort as much money out of them as possible because they were all so gullible!"
"That's not true!"
"Oh, but it is true, for you see…" Chan(?) said as she and Chun(?) stood next to each other.
"We are you… and you two are us." The other twins said in unison.
"That's not who we are!" Chan yelled.
"Yeah, we hated that scam!" Chun argued.
"Again with the lies… but we don't lie." The strange twins continued to speak in unison. "We know everything about you because we are you."
"That's not true!" Both Chan and Chun started to shout. "YOU CAN'T BE US!"
The other twins looked at each other with evil grins.
"Time for our grand act!" The other twins stood in front of a case with holes in it. "We're gonna take those annoying twins up front, put them in this case and attempt to impale them with swords! And if they do die… then our trick was a success!"
"Aura!" Asuka shouted out.
"I know!" Aura agreed. "Demons, I challenge you!"
The twins' Demons looked at them and scoffed.
"Crap! I guess we'll have to delay our finale until after the Duel." Demon Chan seemed somewhat disappointed.
"Very well then." Demon Chan said. "It's a Tag Duel! There are three of you, so who else is going to be your partner? Unless you intend to face us by yourself."
"I'll be her partner."
Aura turned her head and Asuka stood next to her.
"I haven't had the chance to Duel at all yet." Asuka said.
"There were other people who haven't Dueled yet." Aura nervously stated. "That aside, it looks like it'll be two-on-two."
The twins' Demons then had a red shadow aura engulf their left eyes and left hands that formed into a Duel Gazer and Duel Disk respectively.
"All right!" Demon Chun exclaimed.
"Let the Duel begin!" Demon Chan followed up. "Oh, and if even one of our partners lose, that team loses!"
Aura (LP 4000) Asuka (LP 4000) Demon Chan (LP 4000) Demon Chun (LP 4000)
Demon Chan was the first to draw a card. "I summon Demonic Doppelganger (Lv.4 0/0) in attack mode!"
A black blob wearing a white mask appeared on the field.
"Then I place one card face-down and end my turn!" Demon Chun made her move.
"I'll go next!" Asuka said as she drew her first card. "I summon Aquaria the Witch (Lv.4 1700/1200)!"
In front of Asuka appeared a mass of water that was shaped like a woman with a witch hat and appeared to be holding a wand, but everything about her was made of water, except for her eyes.
"You see, when there's a Spell or Trap Card on the field, mine or yours, I can Special Summon her from my hand." Asuka explained. "Next, I Normal Summon Aquaria the Fighter (Lv.4 1800/900)!"
Another woman made completely out of water appeared on the field, this time with spikes on what appeared to be its fists.
"I place one card face-down and end my turn!" Asuka concluded her turn.
Demon Chun then drew her card. "I activate the Field Spell Demon Circle! Then I activate the Continuous Spell Field Barrier! This will prevent other Field Spells from being destroyed!"
*Oh no!* Aura thought. *With both of those out, I won't be able to use my Blossom Paradise! And that means I won't be able to get as many Blossom Counters on the field, which my Deck heavily relies upon! That's seriously going to hinder my strategy!*
"I now place two cards face-down and end my turn!" Demon Chun said.
Aura then draws her first card. "I summon Graceful Blossom Ghost (Lv.2 600/0) in defense mode! Then I activate the Spell Card Flower Restoration! I can pay any multiple of 500 Life Points so I can place a Blossom Counter on any card I have! I'll just pay 500 so I can place it on my Ghost! Now that I have a monster with a Blossom Counter on it, I can Special Summon the Tuner Graceful Blossom Sprite (Lv.2 900/300) from my hand! Finally, I'll place a card face-down and end my turn!"
Aura (LP 3500) Asuka (LP 4000) Demon Chan (LP 4000) Demon Chun (LP 4000)
"Now it's my turn again!" Demon Chan drew her next card. "Demonic Doppelganger, attack!"
"This can't be good." Aura said in response.
The doppelganger rushed toward Aura's Sprite and as it attacked, the Sprite was able to put up a wall of blossom petals that blocked the attack. However, the doppelganger reformed itself on Demon Chan's side of the field and it appeared she only took half of the damage she normally would have taken.
Aura (LP 3500) Asuka (LP 4000) Demon Chan (LP 3550) Demon Chun (LP 4000)
"I guess you're wondering why my doppelganger isn't destroyed." Demon Chun said. "You see, by discarding a Demon or Demonic monster from my hand, I can prevent its destruction and halve the damage I take. But there's more. The card I discarded was another Doppelganger and when he's sent from my hand to the grave by a card effect, I can Special Summon it to my field. Now I Normal Summon another Doppelganger! That ends my turn!"
Asuka drew her next card. "I summon Aquaria the Knight (Lv.4 1900/1200)!"
Another form of water with its body shaped to look like armor except for its head, which had what appeared to be long hair, so it was probably a woman.
"Since Chun left herself wide open, all three of my Aquarias will attack!" Asuka declared her assault.
"I activate the Trap Negate Attack!" Demon Chun countered the attack. "Did you really think you could win that easily? !"
"Rrrgh!" Asuka growled. "Fine! I end my turn!"
Demon Chun drew her next card. "I summon my own Demonic Doppelganger. Now it's time to overlay our four Doppelgangers to Xyz Summon Twin Dragon Demons (Rank 4 2400/1800)!"
The four Doppelgangers merged together with the twins' Demons and they were all engulfed in red shadows. When the shadows dissipated, they transfigured into two ladies wearing red Chinese clothing with gold dragons emblazoned on them to look like they wrapped around their bodies and white and black masks covering their faces.
"We are Demons… from within your heart." They both said in unison.
"I think it's time we attack." The twin on the right side said as she jumped and spun in the air and aimed her foot downward towards Aura's Sprite.
"I activate the Continuous Trap Graceful Blossom Spore!" Aura retaliated to the attack. "When you attack a Graceful Blossom monster with a Blossom Counter on it, the attacker's attack power is halved!"
"That won't work because we aren't affected by card effects as long as we have Xyz Materials!" The attacking Demon said.
The Demon twin kicked Aura's Sprite and destroyed her, inflicting Aura with 1500 points of damage.
Aura (LP 2000) Asuka (LP 4000) Demon Chan (LP 3550) Demon Chun (LP 4000)
"Since my Sprite was destroyed, I can place a Blossom Counter on any card I control!" Aura pointed out. "I'm going to place it on my Trap Card!"
"We also have another ability." The other Demon said. "We can attack twice per turn!"
The other Demon jumped into the air and aimed a diving kick at Asuka's Witch.
"I activate the Trap Zeus' Breath!" Asuka responded to the attack. "This negates your attack and since I have a Water monster on my field, you take 800 points of damage!"
A tidal wave stopped the Demon's attack and delivered a shock to her, inflicting her with 800 points of damage.
Aura (LP 2000) Asuka (LP 4000) Demon Chan (LP 3550) Demon Chun (LP 3200)
"I end my turn!"
Aura drew her next card. "First, I summon Graceful Blossom Lion (Lv.4 2000/1000)! Then I activate Premature Burial to bring back my Sprite at the cost of 800 Life Points!"
Aura (LP 1200) Asuka (LP 4000) Demon Chan (LP 3550) Demon Chun (LP 3200)
"Now I'm going to tune my Sprite with my Lion and Ghost to Synchro Summon Graceful Blossom Knight Sakura (Lv.8 2650/2350)!" Aura continued her turn. "Now that all of my monsters have been removed from the field, I can place a total of 3 more Blossom Counters on my Blossom Spore Trap! Also, when Sakura is Synchro Summoned, she can place 2 Blossom Counters on herself! Sakura, take them out!"
Sakura charged toward the Demon twins, but one of the Xyz Material orbs that surrounded them became a barrier that blocked Sakura's sword attack.
"All we have to do is use up one of our Xyz Materials and we can negate an attack!" Both of the twins pointed out in unison.
"I'll place one card face-down and end my turn!" Aura finished her move.
"Then it's my turn again." The twin on the left side said. "Time for us to attack again!"
Both of the twins jumped and aimed their diving kicks at Asuka's monsters.
"I activate the Trap Blossom Vortex!" Aura exclaimed. "With this Trap, all of your attacks are negated and you take damage equal to the attacker's attack points!"
A tornado of cherry blossom petals engulfed the twins and they were sent flying back to their side of the field, with Demon Chan inflicted with 2400 points of damage.
Aura (LP 1200) Asuka (LP 4000) Demon Chan (LP 1150) Demon Chun (LP 3200)
"You might be immune to effects, but your attacks can still be negated!" Aura pointed out.
"Smart thinking, Aura." Asuka complemented as she drew her next card. "And now it's my turn! Time to show you what I got! I now overlay my 3 Level 4 Aquarias!"
Asuka's monsters became blue streams of light that entered a cosmic vortex that appeared in front of her.
"I Xyz Summon Aquaria, the Primary Persona (Rank 4 2500/2300)!"
Out of the cosmic vortex appeared a girl with blue and white armor over the top part of her torso (exposing her stomach), her wrists and her legs. Her hair was short and had a dark cerulean color to it.
"Wait… that doesn't look like the Spirit that came out of you." Aura noticed.
"It's not." Asuka confirmed. "My Spirit's Rank is 5, so I would've needed to increase all of their Levels by 1. Anyway, I'm now going to use her special ability! Each turn, I can remove any number of Xyz Materials from her to activate certain effects! By removing 2, I can send all of your Xyz Material monsters to your Graveyard!"
Two of the orbs surrounding Aquaria went inside of her and a flash of blue light engulfed the twins' field. When they could see again, their Xyz Materials were gone.
"And without any Xyz Materials, you're wide open! Aquaria, attack them now!"
A stream of water appeared around Aquaria's left arm and turned into a blue and white sword. She charged in and slashed both of Twin Dragon Demons, destroying them and inflicting Demon Chan with 100 points of damage plus another 2000 because that monster was destroyed.
Aura (LP 1200) Asuka (LP 4000) Demon Chan (LP 0) Demon Chun (LP 3200)
Since Demon Chan's Life Points were reduced to 0, that meant that Aura and Asuka had won the Duel. Demon Chan and Chun returned to their original states and Hikari managed to free the real twins from their restraints. All the two sets of twins did after that was staring at each other for a few moments.
"I… guess you all think we're pretty despicable after what they just said…" Chan looked down at her feet.
"We wouldn't blame you if you did…" Chun followed up.
"… That's not true." Aura spoke up. "We all have something like this inside of us. In fact, we all did when we came here. Those girls are an unconscious or suppressed part of your personalities. All you really have to do is acknowledge their existence."
",,, We did like the money we got from those shows…" Chan spoke up again.
"We also enjoyed seeing the other kids smile…" Chan said.
"That was why we enjoyed doing that while loathing it at the same time." Chan continued. "You were a part of us we wanted to deny, but no matter how hard we tried you wouldn't go away."
"But now we realize that we could never be rid of you." Chun also continued. "You are a part of us that suffered by our guilt and wanted to be rid of it, but you can't get rid of the guilt… You can only repress them to try and forget them. We're sorry for doing that to you… to us."
Both of the Demon twins smiled and transfigured into female Chinese twins wearing blue and gold Chinese clothing, and their faces were visible, revealing them as children with long, braided dark brown hair. The gold dragon symbol was still designed so that it looked like the dragon was wrapping around their bodies. The two girls then transformed into a Xyz Monster card of themselves that fell in front of Chan and Chun.
"I'm so happy for you!" Aura smiled. "You overcame your suffering through spirit and obtained a new card!"
"Yeah- huh?" Chun was about to say before she remembered something. "I almost forgot! What about Spiral? !"
"Well, if he's not here, then he must be in the outside world." Hikari stated.
"There you guys are!"
All of the girls turned toward the familiar voice calling out to them and saw Naoto, Shroud and Momo all running up to them.
"Hey guys!" Aura greeted them. "Any luck finding Spiral?"
"No." Shroud shook his head. "We checked everywhere. Places where he would both normally go and wouldn't go we searched, but we never found him. We would have much better luck finding Waldo."
"Wait… Are you saying that… Spiral vanished from existence?" Asuka wondered. "Because he's not here."
"He's not here either? !" Momo asked with a shocked expression on her face.
"But… He has to be here!" Naoto exclaimed. "We looked all over Tokyo and even all the districts! He was nowhere to be found."
"Oh, bullshi-!" Asuka was about to curse as she stomped on the stage floor.
Asuka fell through the floor after she made a hole in it and when she got back to her feet, she found a tunnel.
"Uh… guys!" Asuka shouted. "You might want to come down here!"
All of them went down the hole and saw the tunnel for themselves.
"What the hell is this doing here?" Naoto wondered.
"Do you think this leads to a world that's controlled by telepathically-controlled flying insects? !" Shroud became giddy.
"… Where the **** did you come up with that? !" Naoto glared at him.
"Do you think this will lead to Spiral?" Aura asked.
"I hope so." Momo responded.
"I'm sure we all hope that's where this tunnel will lead us." Hikari said as she looked down the tunnel.
(To be continued…)
English Voice Cast
Todd Haberkorn Spiral
Alexis Tipton Aura
Laura Bailey Hikari
Caitlin Glass Asuka
Alison Viktorin Chan/Chun
Yuri Lowenthal Naoto
Maxey Whitehead Shroud
Monica Rial Momo
Aura's Cards
Blossom Vortex
Trap
You can only activate this card when your opponent declares an attack. Negate the attack and inflict your opponent with damage equal to the ATK of the attacking monster. This effect applies during the Battle Phase in which this card is activated.
Asuka's Cards
Aquaria the Witch
Aqua/Effect (ATK 1700 DEF 1200)
Level 4/WATER
If either player controls a Spell/Trap Card; You can Special Summon this card from your hand. If you activate a Spell Card while this card is in face-up Attack Position: You can increase the Level of this card by 1.
Aquaria the Fighter
Aqua/Effect (ATK 1800 DEF 900)
Level 4/WATER
If you control a face-up WATER monster other than this card when this card attacks a Defense Position monster whose DEF is lower than the ATK of this card: Inflict piercing Battle Damage to your opponent.
Aquaria the Knight
Aqua/Effect (ATK 1900 DEF 1200)
Level 4/WATER
As long as this card remains face-up on the field: Your opponent cannot select another WATER monster you control as an attack target.
Aquaria, the Primary Persona
Aqua/Xyz/Effect (ATK 2500 DEF 2300)
Rank 4/WATER
3 Level 4 WATER Monsters
You can detach any number of Xyz Material Monsters from this card to activate one of the following effects: *1: Increase the ATK of this card by 500 until the End Phase. *2: Send all Xyz Material Monsters on your opponent's side of the field to the Graveyard. *3: This card can attack your opponent directly until the End Phase.
Demon Chan and Chun's Cards
Demonic Doppelganger
Fiend/Effect (ATK 0 DEF 0)
Level 4/DARK
If this card would be destroyed as a result of battle: You can send 1 "Demon" or "Demonic" monster from your hand instead, and if you do, halve any Battle Damage from that attack. When this card is sent from your hand to the Graveyard: Special Summon this card to your side of the field.
Twin Dragon Demons
Fiend/Xyz/Effect (ATK 2400 DEF 1800)
Rank 4/DARK
3 or more Level 4 "Demon" or "Demonic" Monsters
This card can attack up to twice per turn and can only be destroyed as a result of battle. When this card is destroyed by your opponent: Inflict 2000 damage to the controller of this card. If this card 1 or more Xyz Material Monsters attached to this card: This card is unaffected by card effects. You can detach 1 Xyz Material Monster from this card to negate an attack.